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Puppet on a Chain

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Puppet on a Chain

By: Alistair MacLean
Narrated by: Jonathan Oliver
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About this listen

From the acclaimed master of action and suspense. The all time classic.

Paul Sherman of Interpol's Narcotics Bureau flies to Amsterdam on the trail of a dope king.

With enormous skill the atmosphere is built up: Amsterdam with its canals and high houses; stolid police; psychopaths; women in distress and above all – murder.

 Action & Adventure Mystery Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Police Procedural Suspense Technothrillers Thriller & Suspense Classics Fiction Thriller Technology

Critic reviews

'With this book Alistair MacLean will make another killing' Sunday Mirror
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The narrator's voice is perfect for this story and the evocation of the black and sleazy world is very compelling. If very unpleasant.

Amazing narrator, very atmospheric

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I loved the dry sarcasm of the main character in this book. It's something Alistair MacLean does very well, and makes the characters seem less flat. The premise for the story is sound, but there's a rather large pinch of salt that needs to be chucked over your shoulder - I can't imagine a western European country allowing officers to go around killing whoever he comes across.

Jonathan Oliver reads the stories well, delivers the dry sarcasm brilliantly, and I'm glad he's read the whole series of MacLean novels to date.

Great Style

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I first read this book when I was about 13 (53 years ago!). At the time it was the best book I had read and for years I still believed that this was certainly one of my favourite books. Sadly things become dated in style and writing techniques improve and books from the past when revisited can be disappointing. I wonder if I had actually just read this book, rather than listen to an audiobook version, whether I would have been similarly disappointed? I didn't rate the reader. Some of the attempts at accents were simply terrible! Sorry I just had to say it. I'm sure if it had been read without attempts to give characters any accents I'm fairly certain that it would have been better. Another point that I must raise is that the main character is simply unlikeable.

This was once my favourite book

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Perhaps one of my most favourite thrillers. Puppet on a chain is a darkly comedic tale that is easily misunderstood. The protagonist Major Paul Sherman (of Interpol) finds himself operating on enemy territory with limited resources and constant surveillance. His two female assistants are, in an old fashioned and chivalrous manner, as much of a liability as an asset to his operation.

This is where the novel deviates from conventional spy stories before and after as Major Sherman proceeds to dangerously bait and provoke a deadly criminal organisation into revealing itself and it's methods. This works because the protagonist narrates his tale with a corrosive sarcasm and razor wit that has caused other readers to view him as unlikeable, callous and unashamedly obnoxious. On top of this he is infuriatingly arrogant to those around him.

These irredeemable qualities make him well suited to cause waves in the Dutch underworld and produce unorthodox results where others have failed.

This for me is what makes the story original and worthwhile and I would recommend this gem to those who are willing to revisit the thriller genre from another perspective.

Frantically fascinating.

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Felt the narrator pitched it wrong, tried too hard with accents for different parts. A shame as a great book.

Shame about the accent(s)

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